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TOKYO, Japan - Nissan has reported that a Takata automobile crash-bag "deployed abnormally" (they mean "blew up") in home market Japan - the first such recorded there.
Tens of million of cars carrying Takata-made crash-bag inflators have been recalled around the world by a range of automakers. Some inflators have exploded with too much force, spraying shrapnel inside their host vehicle, regulators have found.
The defect has so far been linked to eight deaths.
FLYING SHRAPNEL
The latest case involved the front passenger crash-bag inflator of an X-Trail SUV made in August 2001 and recalled in April 2013, Nissan said. The inflator was made at a plant in Washington in the United States.
Takata declined to any immediate comment.
The inflator blew up "abnormally", Nissan said. That caused very hot metal pieces to blast into the car's facia and through the passenger-side door window. Fortunately there was no passenger in the vehicle.
The driver's left cheek was burned.
The explosion was Nissan's first known "abnormal deployment" of a Takata crash-bag inflator in Japan. There had, however been nine confirmed explosions involving its cars in the US.
Shares in Nissan fell as much as 6.8% to the equivalent of R122 in early afternoon trade on Wednesday after the company announced the incident.
